Drop Dead Gorgeous/Issue 1
This is Issue #1 of Drop Dead Gorgeous, by Headaches, titled First Day, First Death. This is the first issue in Volume 1. Issue 1 - First Day, First Death Harrison sits in front of the New York Public Library, cigarette-in-hand. The concrete path around him is covered in white, fluffy snow that doesn't seem to stop falling from the sky. The grey, wire fence stops the infected from reaching him, but only by a few inches. He wears a white t-shirt with a dark green camouflage jacket over the top. His dark jeans are held up by a silver belt and black boots hang from his feet, the laces untied. The talking coming from inside the library is drowned out by the groans of the infected. Slowly, Britney approaches from behind, a blue blanket cuddled around her. "Hey," she smiles, holding her left arm out as she sits on the pavement, next to Harrison. He cuddles up next to her and she wraps the blanket around both of them. "You're freezing! How long have you been out here?" "Not that long..." Harrison murmurs. "What are you thinking about?" Britney asks. He looks away from her. "Zach again, huh?" "Yeah..." He sighs, face pressed into the blanket. "How long has it been?" She takes out a small, pocket-size calender from her back pocket and flicks through it, "Just over three months since the beginning." Harrison sighs again and there is a few more minutes of silence before he speaks up, "I don't know if I can do this." He explains. "Yes, you can!" She protests, shouting. "The other survivors and I voted you to be the leader. You're physically the strongest and your advice is the best I've ever heard. You only break down in front of me, which is sometimes a good thing. You can do it." Harrison puts the cigarette out on the concrete and throws the butt through the fence. It bounces off an infected and onto the floor. The same infected steps to the right and the cigarette makes a sizzling sound as it burns the creature's feet. Britney stands up and offers her hand to Harrison, he smiles at her as he accepts it and the two walk back into the library, hand-in-hand. __________________________________________________________________________________ Within the next few minutes, Harrison finds himself standing on the balcony that looks down onto the first floor of library. Twenty faces, including Britney, look up at him. Some smile, some look bored. There a lots of people, different ages, different opinions, different appearences. Harrison pulls his glasses from his top pocket and slides them onto his face. He grabs a small piece of paper from his pocket. "First of all, I would like to... um... thank you all for voting for me as the leader of this small community of survivors. I will do best to defend you from the outside dangers, whether that is other groups or infected. We have enough food stored to last all twenty-one of us through until the tenth of December, which is not enough. Throughout this week, I will be organising at least three supply runs per day until the end of the month. These supply runs will mainly focus on getting food and water but any clothing helps as well. " "Next, I have some rules. It is absolutely essential that you follow these rules, not just for your own survival but for the survival of others also. First, everyone must be in their rooms by nine-thirty with lights out at ten, except from the people on lookout duty.This is not just to reduce the chance of attracting infected, it is so that your bodies get enough sleep for the early starts. Second, no alcohol must be consumed unless Britney or I give you permission to do so." Eight more rules follow, making the list upto ten. One is about registering all firearms with Harrison, another is about stealing from the supplies cupboard. "Failure to follow any of these rules will result in immediate consequences." He ends the rule-giving part of the speech with a harsh statement before continuing on. "Now, about tonight. I shall be putting on a small party tonight to celebrate my first day of leading with a few, not many, bottles of alcohol available." "Wooo!" One man calls from the back. He has shaggy, ginger hair and wears torn clothes. "Shut up, Kane." A small, younger girl scolds from beside him. Harrison lets out a small chuckle before continuing, "The lovely, singing Annabeth will be taking requests. So, get them in quickly before she is all booked up. I will be on watch for the most of the party but I need someone else to watch alongside me. Any volunteers?" The girl that scolded Kane a few seconds ago raises her hand. "Great." Harrison smiles. "Thanks Sofi. Well, my little speech is over. So, if you go to your rooms and get ready around six, the party will start at seven. You can check the time up there." He points to a large battery-operated clock on the wall. "Thanks for listening and remember to register your firearms with me." Harrison walks along the large balcony and into the large room at the end as the other survivors turned around and talk to each other. __________________________________________________________________________________ That evening, Britney walks out into the first floor of the library. She's a bit later than everyone else to the party because she couldn't get the zip on her dress up. The room doesn't look very party-like, except from the ten ballons that are dotted around the place. Britney remembers getting them on a supply run when they first started staying in the library. Annabeth, the singer, stands on a small raised platform in the back of the room, alongside two other girls. The acoustic twist that she puts on the My Chemical Romance song creates a calming atmosphere in the room. "Sing it for the boys. Sing it for the girls. Every time that you lose it sing it for the world." Britney walks over to a man sitting by himself in the corner of the room. He's dark-skinned and sports a small, black beard. A large stetson is covering his eyes. "Hey." She smiles but he can't see it. "It's Derek. Isn't it?" "Sing it from the heart. Sing it till you're nuts. Sing it out for the ones that'll hate your guts." "Sure is, missy." He looks up at her. "Why are you all by yourself?" Britney asks. "Not many folks here, only a few of them are good. Of course, there's you and Harrison. But, none of these people take my fancy." Derek says. Britney looks around to see the ginger man who shouted earlier, Kane, trying to get all of the girls to dance with him. "Sing it for the deaf. Sing it for the blind. Sing about everyone that you left behind." "There's only twenty-one of us. If you don't try to make friends, then you wont ever have any." She tells him. "Nah." He takes a swig from his hip flask before offering it to Britney. She sighs and rejects it. "I'm not really a people person." "Well, why not?" "Sing it out, boy they're gonna sell what tomorrow means..." "I've been homeless most of my life. Never really got on with my momma and when the bank took our house, she left me alone. I was only sixteen." "Didn't you go to a homeless shelter?" "Nah, never really liked those places." "Sing it out, girl before they kill what tomorrow brings..." "Well," Britney sighed. "I guess we're all homeless now." __________________________________________________________________________________ Directly above Derek and Britney, Harrison stands on the roof with Sofi. They each hold a sniper rifle. Sofi looks around nineteen, maybe twenty, and wears only a thin, purple cardigan despite the freezing temperatures. Out of the blue, Harrison begins to laugh. "What?" Sofi asks, confused. "You're trying to make me think you're tough." Harrison explains. "What?! No, I'm not!" She exclaims. "Yes, you are." He laughs. "If it makes you feel better, you can lead a supply run tomorrow, I like you." "Thanks... Can I have your coat, then?" Harrison sighs, "You sure don't hold back. Come here and get then. Oh, and watch that icy patch, I wouldn't want you to slip and fa-" But, it's too late. Sofi has already slipped and is already sliding down the roof on her back. The rifle slides faster than her and flies off the end of the roof, into the herd of infected below. Harrison leaps up from his camping chair and dives to save Sofi. Her body is halfway over the ledge by the time Harrison catches her and the sharp end of the roof digs into her side. He fumbles with her arm for a second before securing his grip. When he finally manages to pull her to her feet, she jumps him and pulls him into a hug. "Steady, we don't want a repeat of what just happened." Harrison laughs as she hugs him. It's awkward as they pull away, "Thanks, sorry about the gun." Sofi tries to put on her sweetest smile. "It's fine, you can pick it up when you go out on the supply run, tomorrow." __________________________________________________________________________________ The next day, Britney waits outside Harrison's room as he registers the last of the guns. Annabeth walks out of the room, slipping a pistol into her belt. She normally has long, flowing blonde hair but it has been tied back to make it look like a bob. Britney puts her foot in the door, just before it closes, and pushes it back open. "Sorry, I'm busy." Harrison says as she walks in. He is sitting in a large, leather chair facing away from his desk, looking out the window. "Oh, my apologies, Mr Wilde. I'll come back another day." Britney mocks. He turns around in his chair, shaking his head and smiling. He places a book on his desk. "I forgot to ask you, how was my speech, yesterday?" He asks and she props herself up on his desk. "Not bad, could've used more emphasis." She shrugs, picking up the book he was reading. "'Bill Clinton: The Story.' There's hundreds of better books in the library, why are you reading this?" "Sometimes you're so blind to the obvious, Britney. I need to know how to be a good leader." Harrison sighs. "You'll learn. It's just a matter o-" Britney's voice is cut off by an ear-piercing scream coming from the first floor. The pair shoot each other a shocked look before running out onto the balcony to see what was going on. A woman, possibly in her fourties, has been grabbed by the hand of an infected. The infected's hand looks like it had broken through the boarded-up window, due to smashed pieces of wood on the floor. The infected holds onto the woman's hair as she screams. People run over to see what the commotion is and some fumble with their guns. But, its too much of a risky shot. Reacting slower than he should, Harrison jumps over the balcony and on top of one of the bookshelves. As fast as he can, he jumps from one to the next, trying to get to the screaming woman in time. Less than a minute later, he jumps down but a pain flies through his right leg. Still, he lifts his gun and tries to aim. As he closes one eye, he looks down to the end of the gun and pulls the trigger. Although, he's not the one to take down the infected. A man, who looks like he is of Indian descent, runs over to the infected and sticks his knife into its skull. "Be careful, Scott!" Sofi calls. He pullls the knife out and stabs in again. But... its too late, the woman clutches her kneck and blood seeps through her fingers. Harrison drags himself across the floor and over to the girl as he whispers a 'thank you' to Scott. "I'm so sorry, Angela." A tear falls down Harrison's cheek as he speaks. "Everything is gonna be okay, I promise. Soon, you're gonna see your sons and your mom and you can tell them everything. It's is goi-" Harrison cuts the end of his own sentence off as he fires the gun he had previously brought to the back of her head. He brushes Angela's eyes shut. "Fucking fix this up!" Britney screams in the faces of two men who are watching. Sofi runs over with a table cloth that she had retrieved. She lays it over the body but it's too short and the woman's feet stick out. Harrison and Sofi silently carry the body out of the room. __________________________________________________________________________________ Within minutes, Harrison is digging a grave for Angela, shovel-in-hand. The never-ending falling of snow makes it hard but he persists. "Do you want any help?" Scott says as he approaches him. "I said NO!" Harrison shouts at the top of his lungs, making the infected behind the fence turn their heads. "If I reject Britney's help, I'm obviously not going to let you help me." His voice changes to a more caring tone. "Now, go back inside. You'll catch a cold." Annabeth and Britney watch through one of the windows as Scott turns around and walks back inside. "I'm worried about him." Britney tells Annabeth. "He's just blaming himself." Annabeth says. "If something like this happened on your second day as leader, you'd blame yourself. I'm going to go and find Marilyn, I think she's gonna take the funeral." __________________________________________________________________________________ Harrison, Britney, Annabeth, Sofi, Scott, Kane, Derek and the twelve other members of the community stand around the small grave Harrison had dug. Scott kisses Sofi on the head, forgetting about his emotions so that he can comfort her. Derek holds his hate to his chest. They all have sad looks on their faces. Angela's body lies covered with two tablecloths. A woman in her seventies, Marilyn, stands at the end of the grave. She holds a black book and wears a necklace with a cross on it around her neck. "Angela will be buried with her most loved possesions: a picture of her and her sons, her mothers scarf and a small, hand-made doll." Annabeth steps forwards and places the three items next to the body. "By the faculty which the Apostolic See has given me, I grant you a plenary indulgence for the remission of all your sins, and bless you. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen." Marilyn reads from the book. "Amen." The other suvivors echo. As Marilyn shuts the book, most of the survivors turn around and walk back inside the library. Harrison picks up a shovel and begins to cover the body with the earth. Scott walks past Harrison and starts to fill in the other side of the grave. "Don't say that I can't help you, because I'm going to." Scott says. Harrison looks up at him, "Thanks." Trivia *First appearence of Sofi. *First appearence of Annabeth. *First appearence of Scott. *First appearence of Kane. *First appearence of Derek. *First appearence of Marilyn. *First and last appearence of Angela. *First appearence of the twelve other un-named residents of the New York Library. *The song used is called ''Sing! ''by My Chemical Romance. Category:Drop Dead Gorgeous Category:Drop Dead Gorgeous Issues